Spiro Zavos on Lions
Rugby
Lions to kick against their revered heritage
Spiro Zavos Not long after the 2013 British and Irish Lions squad was announced, I received this email from a well-informed England supporter: ‘‘The two best players in their position left behind [Andrew...
Rugby
Winning on the road is Lions' biggest challenge
Spiro Zavos HERE is a recent news flash: ''South Wales police have asked for witnesses to come forward regarding the brutal crime against 15 Englishmen on a visit to Cardiff who were robbed of a Grand Slam they...
Rugby
Numbers right and Izzy should start for Wallabies
Spiro Zavos IT'S probably a journalistic instinct to preserve a thought but I often find myself scribbling notes as the rugby play surges on before me.
Flawless Smith sure to get Test tick as bungler Cooper stays in the cold
Spiro Zavos A FEW days before NSW played their first rugby match against a British rugby side, on June 2, 1888, a Probables- Possibles match was contested in Sydney to work out a starting XV.
Rugby
Ditch old boys network for centralised system to bring out gold
Spiro Zavos THE ARU has unleashed a new version of the Wallaby jersey for the June Tests against the 2013 British and Irish Lions. There is a slash of green along the top.
Rugby
Beale must concentrate on tackling his demons
Spiro Zavos IT seems a blink in the mind's eye, but several years ago the ABC presented a live telecast of Joeys playing Riverview in the GPS rugby tournament.
Rugby
When the music stops, McKenzie may go Irish
Spiro Zavos THERE is no doubt that by announcing the end of his association with the Queensland Reds at the end of the Super Rugby season, Ewen McKenzie is stating he wants to coach the Wallabies.
Campese out of order but Robbie still rankles
Spiro Zavos YOU KNOW when you've put both your rugby boots in your mouth when Wendell Sailor tweets this to you: "Well good morning to u Campo & I have to say u are on your own with this comment it's 2012 champ.
Spiro Zavos
Democratic or dictatorial, best coaching system is a winning system
Spiro Zavos There has been a fierce debate this week about the good rucking Richie McCaw has given his former coach, Robbie Deans, in his rugbiography The Open Side.
Henry in Pumas' corner shows coaches transcend nationality
Spiro Zavos THE main Wellington newspaper, The Dominion Post, had a killer photo on its main sports page this week.
Spiro Zavos
McKenzie's blunder raises questions over his tactical nous
Spiro Zavos In the 20th minute of the engrossing qualifying final between the Reds and the Sharks, Ewen McKenzie made a fateful and wrong decision.
Spiro Zavos
Deans cruelled by Test scheduling and critics' short memories
Spiro Zavos WE were a miserable group, dripping wet, cold and shattered, coming back from Newcastle on the train after the agony of watching the Wallabies snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Scotland.
Spiro Zavos
Race to the Super finals is reaching fever pitch
Spiro Zavos NOW, where were we, before the June Test series stopped this year's Super Rugby tournament in its tracks …
Spiro Zavos
Conference format is a winner - and South Africans cannot be allowed to wreck it
Spiro Zavos THE Australian and New Zealand unions beware, the South Africans are coming to make a mess of the Super Rugby tournament.
Spiro Zavos
The fine line between winners and losers
Spiro Zavos 'MOST ball games are lost, not won," Casey Stengel, the eccentric, folksy manager of New York's Yankees and Mets once told a gaggle of sports writers.
Spiro Zavos
Bulls' allegations raise question of fairness
Spiro Zavos SOME strange Super Rugby action, some of it good and some of it not so good, has been coming out of South Africa. The good could result in a South African team winning the tournament.
Spiro Zavos
Hot air over depth of Australian conference neglects cold hard facts
Spiro Zavos PHIL KEARNS talked about it on the Rugby Club. John Plumtree, the New Zealand-born coach of the Sharks, says the same thing.
